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Thursday, June 16, 2011

Radical Expansion of School Choice in Wisconsin Budget - E.D. Kain - American Times - Forbes

Radical Expansion of School Choice in Wisconsin Budget - E.D. Kain - American Times - Forbes

Radical Expansion of School Choice in Wisconsin Budget

Jun. 16 2011 - 4:36 pm | 93 views | 0 recommendations | 0 comments

Major changes are coming to the Wisconsin public school system, as the Wisconsin Senate prepares to pass Gov. Scott Walker’s budget and radically expand the state’s school voucher programs. What was once a program limited to Milwaukie will now be open to more and more districts. State Superintendent Tony Evers is not pleased:

Once again in the middle of the night, the majority party in the Assembly voted to expand taxpayer-funded vouchers for religious and private schools. This time the result is a hidden expansion of vouchers statewide. Wisconsin is now set to expand vouchers for private and religious schools, while making a catastrophic $1.6 billion cut in funding for public schools.

Governor Scott Walker is attempting to shore up a $3 billion budget shortfall by cutting spending on schools and local governments as well as public workers’ benefits. The governor is hoping to balance the